Trossard has sealed Pulisic’s Chelsea fate

Robin Bairner

• 30 Oct 2022 10:57 GMT
• 3 min read

The meaning of Chelsea’s Premier League trip to Brighton on Saturday would have escaped no-one.

Graham Potter was taking his new club to the site of his explosion as a manager, with several players in the home side having been earmarked as transfer targets by the new Blues boss.

Among those most closely linked with the Stamford Bridge side in recent weeks has been Belgium attacker Leandro Trossard, who produced an outstanding audition for a January move as he turned in a man-of-the-match display in a breath-taking 4-1 win.

MORE: Chelsea amongst the clubs interested in Brighton star Trossard

Contrast between Trossard and Pulisic stark

The secret behind Brighton’s success was a blistering start. Trossard scored after just five minutes, but already by that stage the Seagulls had seen two remarkable headed goal-line clearances from Thiago Silva. By half-time, they were three clear.

The story might have been quite different had Christian Pulisic not missed a glaring chance with the score still sitting at two. After Roberto Sanchez had made a stop from Conor Gallagher, who himself should have scored, the ball bounced to the US international, who planted his effort wide of an empty net.

It was the type of inefficiency that has plagued Pulisic’s game since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in January 2019 and has led to reports that Chelsea are happy to let him leave.

MORE: Chelsea transfer target admits: I fought to join Blues this summer

Trossard could be his replacement in the Blues’ attacking corps and on Saturday scored his seventh Premier League goal of the season – five of which have now come against Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. You have to go all the way back to the opening day of the 2021/22 season to credit Pulisic with seven top-flight goals.

Now admittedly he played in a more advanced role than Pulisic, but the manner in which he danced around Kepa before having the composure to slot past a couple of defenders on the line from a testing angle stands in sharp contract to the opportunity spurned the by the Chelsea man.

Perhaps the Brighton star’s age may be seen as a drawback in terms of a transfer – the Blues are trying to build a young and exciting squad – but the difference in the efficiency between Trossard and Pulisic is sharp. Even if the Belgian is not Potter’s replacement for the American, you get the sense that one has to come.